Tuesday, April 22, 2014

We'll keep this a light posting today. Kotaku's Mark Serrels would like to point out all of the silly video game properties that movie studios have bought the rights to. This doesn't necessarily mean that they will all be released as films, but never say never.

Some favorites are:

The Assassin's Creed movie. The current plot summary is a bartender is captured by a large corporation and is forced into a
machine, named "The Animus", allowing him to relive the memories of his
ancestors, most of them are assassins, to retrieve powerful and
dangerous artifacts. The rights were purchased by 20th Century Fox, and given how large of a draw AC is for gamers, it was only a matter of time before it was tagged. The film is currently in production with an anticipated release date of August 2015.

Ratchet & Clank, the movie! My question is why? Destroying my childhood some more, entertainment industry. This was bought up by little known Blockaide Entertainment, who also picked up Heavily Sword and Sly Cooper. On the plus, this is going to be an animated feature. Instead of trying to make this a live action mess, they are sticking to the pixilated graphics of the games, and bringing back some of the original voice actors. That doesn't necessarily make for a great movie, but it's better then what other gaming movies have offered.

Agent 47. courtesy of 20th Century Fox. Because Hitman wasn't bad enough, Agent 47 could be viewed as an attempt to fix the first movie, using a new lead actor and, oh Zachary Quinto.He made a great Spock in the Star Trek reboot. Now originally Paul Walker was set to be the lead (really? I mean...really?) but due to his death, the movie has been in hiatus without a release date. But production is rumored to have began late March. Not holding my breath on the quality of this one.

Angry Birds movie from Sony. We already knew this was happening and has been teased for well over a year. The film is set to release in 2016. Why so late? I don't know. It might have to do with the same company working on the animation also headlining the Nickelodeon show of the same name. Yep. That Angry Birds show is doing well for the Saturday morning cartoon crew. Is anyone surprised? Maybe at how few brain cells the general public puts to use. So it's coming. Get ready for it. And start banging your head against the wall.

Mortal Kombat: Devastation. Does anyone remember that Mortal Kombat trailer in 2010 that went viral and made us explode wanting more MK action? Well the director Kevin Tancharoen got a movie deal that has been in the works for the past 4 years. New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. are on board, but the details regarding it have been safe guarded. Who knows if or when it'll be released, but if it happens I almost guarantee that it'll be a fan favorite.

Asteroids. Brought to you by Sony and Columbia Pictures. Um...what? Really? Yes really. The arcade game that launched a gaming legacy is being made into a film. “We’ve crafted a really strong, deep mythology for the thing. Without
divulging too much about it, it’s two lead characters – two brothers –
who have to go through a seminal experience to figure out their
relationship, against this huge backdrop.” Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Okay then!

RollerCoaster Tycoon. This is most likely in the "we need to buy up everything" group and will never be developed into a film. But it's amusing to think that Sony Pictures actually bought the rights. Where's the Sim City movie? I bet that's in the "works" too.

2015 is going to be a big gaming movie year. So if you're sick of the comic book flicks, just wait.